Shattered Afghan Families Demand U.S. Compensation

Carlotta Gall
New York Times
8 April 2002

KABUL, Afghanistan, April 7 -- Victims of the bombing in Afghanistan
handed in petitions from 400 families to the American Embassy here
today, part of a growing movement to demand compensation from the
United States for the loss of their families and homes.

Dozens of families travelled to Kabul, the capital, from all over the
country to tell harrowing stories of whole families lost and of
children maimed in the bombing. An 8-year-old girl named Amina, who
lost 16 relatives in the bombing, her entire family except her father,
handed the heavy folder of petitions to Michael Metrinko, who heads
the embassy's political and consular sections.

The petitioners represent just some of possibly thousands of civilians
who suffered in the campaign against the Taliban leadership and Osama
bin Laden and his network, Al Qaeda, that began exactly six months ago
today. Global Exchange, a human rights organisation based in San
Francisco that is supporting the victims in their claims, estimates
that about 2,000 families may have suffered losses in the bombing.

About 300 people are thought to have died in the bombing around the
northern city of Kunduz, and 300 more in five villages in eastern
Afghanistan, journalists who have investigated the areas say. Chang W.
Lee/The New York Times Juma Khan and his daughter, Amina, said they
lost 16 relatives in an American raid on Khanabad last fall.

"It is the responsibility of the U.S. government to do a survey and to
help the innocent victims impacted by the air campaign," said Marla
Ruzicka of Global Exchange, who helped organise the petitions.

But the petitioners got only a short meeting in the street with Mr.
Metrinko and no promise of assistance. "I am telling them that we are
trying, we hope we can help," he said. "But I cannot make a
commitment."

Afghans have been handing in petitions since January, he said, and the
embassy had asked Washington what answer should be given to them. "The
embassy has recommended that a positive response be given," he said,
but added that neither the Defense Department nor the State Department
had replied yet.

Mr. Metrinko expressed his own frustrations at the Washington
bureaucracy. "You cannot imagine how difficult it is to listen to
stories like this and not to be able to give an answer," he said.

Emotions veered from weariness to anger among the petitioners gathered
outside the embassy.

Juma Khan, Amina's father, a cobbler who borrowed money to travel from
their home town, Khanabad, to deliver the petitions, said he was
worried it had been in vain. "He said he would try to help, but I
don't know when," he said of Mr. Metrinko.

It was a cold day in November when American planes bombed Khanabad and
hit Mr. Khan's house. "We were all sitting inside, 18 of us, when
suddenly a bomb hit," he said crouching against a wall with his
daughter. "Just two of us are left."

"The house completely collapsed, and two beams landed on my
shoulders." he said. "But fortunately, I survived."

Amina, who had been in another room, wriggled out from the rubble
unhurt and ran for help. Neighbors dug Mr. Khan out. Then they dug
deeper and found his wife, Bibi Gul, his seven other children, his
mother, and his brother and wife and their five children. They were
all dead.

The house was hit in an intense battle as American warplanes pursued
Taliban forces toward their last stronghold in the town of Kunduz. But
Mr. Khan said the Taliban had withdrawn two days before. "They
destroyed our house and killed our children," he said of the American
forces. "They should help us."

They live with relatives now, and his daughter often wakes at night,
crying, he said. Amina, a clear-eyed, calm girl, said the same of her
father. "He has mental problems," she said. "He wakes up at night."

Every petitioner had a similar sad story. Rabia and Ghulam Hazrat lost
four children, ages 7 to 14, when a missile exploded in their
courtyard on the outskirts of Kabul. They live near a military base
used by the Taliban, but the neighborhood was showered with cluster
bombs and other explosives, Ms. Hazrat said.

"There was no warning," she said. "I was in the kitchen making dough
when I heard a huge explosion. I came out and saw a big cloud of dust
and saw my children lying on the ground. Two of them were dead and two
died later in hospital."

Abdul Rashid, 9, was blinded by shrapnel in a similar air raid, and he
arrived with his father, Dad Muhammad, 45, a farmer still hobbling on
a crutch from his injuries. "I just remember the airplane," Abdul
Rashid said. "We wanted to water the animals, and suddenly my eyes
were injured and I lost my sight." He could see a bit from his left
eye for a few days before darkness closed in, he said. Now he can only
see bright lights from a car or electric light, he said.

"The doctor told us that maybe they can treat him abroad, but they can
do nothing in Afghanistan," his father said. "We just ask the U.S.
government that they help us." His house had been demolished in the
raid, he added.

There was anger, too. Hajji Ghulam Hussein, a Pashtun from the eastern
province of Paktia, where the battle against Taliban and Al Qaeda
forces continues, was scathing about the American diplomat. "I told
him that our country has been suffering for 24 years and that we need
an experienced physician, not a man who cannot do much," he said.